SDM Nature Cure Therapy

For the world you are one person, for your family you are the world

About SDM and Getting there

A good friend of mine, Sakiv and I decided to attend a Nature Cure Therapy Session conducted by the Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatha (SDM) foundation. We planned to go in December, but I was busy at the time attending interviews so we decided to postpone it. We ended up going between 6th and 14th of March 2020.

SDM operates a number of campuses across the state (Karnataka). The most popular campus is the one located in Ujire which needs to booked several weeks in advance. Being traditional engineers, we resorted to last minute booking which got us a place in the Pareeka campus located near Udupi.

I left on 5th night (Thursday) in an overnight AC bus. The fares were lower than ever as people had reduced travel all over. Corona is still not a very big deal at this point (at least not in India). The number of buses had reduced significantly, so I had to board at the infamous Silk board junction. The familiar journey was fairly comfortable. Sakiv left the day after in a non ac sleeper.

I reached Tiger Circle, Manipal at 7:30 am and took an auto the Pareeka campus. Upon entering the campus, instead of conducting a routine security check, they screened for outside food! I had good laugh with the auto driver.

Motivation and Treatment

There were a few motivations to do something extreme like this.

• As a semi serious yoga person, I wanted to get better and more flexible
• Escape from city life and a nice vacation
• Fix my diet and detox
• A bit of weight loss
• Do something memorable and different

Since I was a hospital and what I was to undergo a treatment. Based on my motivations, the doctor decided it would be best for me to attend the dynamic yoga sessions and water treatments, massages and detox treatments. For food he determined that, a mixture of boiled diet (for breakfast and lunch) and raw diet (for dinner) would be ideal.

Sakiv wanted to undergo a weight loss treatment and back posture correction. So he was also asked to go to all through the yoga sessions with physiotherapy, massages and water treatments. They chose a liquid diet for him.

Daily Routine

The daily routine was fixed from 5:30am to 8pm. You are expected to sleep by 10pm. Sundays are a holiday for the hospital staff and interns.

• 05:30 am - 06:00 am: Pranayama
• 06:00 am - 07:00 am: Dynamic yoga or Basic Yoga Asanas
• 07:00 am - 07:30 am: Detox Kriyas
• 08:30 am - 12:00 pm: Morning treatment and Doctor consultation
• 09:00 am - 10:00 am: Breakfast
• 11:00 am - 12:00 pm: Lunch
• 01:00 pm - 01:30 pm: Yoga Nidra
• 03:00 pm - 05:00 pm: Evening treatment and Doctor consultation
• 04:30 pm - 05:15 pm: Belly Yoga
• 05:15 pm - 06:00 pm: Prayer and Lectures
• 06:00 pm - 06:45 pm: Back pain or Endocrine Yoga
• 06:30 pm - 07:30 pm: Dinner
• 07:30 pm - 08:00 pm: Trataka

At first it was a bit challenging to get up by 5:30 am for pranayama sessions. It also takes a bit of effort to sleep by 10 pm. The treatments could take anywhere between 10 minutes to an hour, median time being about 30 minutes. At 8:00 am and at 2:30 pm, cold cloth was placed on our eyes and stomach as we sleep (on our beds in our rooms) for half an hour to relax before the treatment. We had several juice breaks in between which I generally ended up skipping.

The mornings from 5:30 to 7:30 were busy. After treatment and breakfast, we were free till lunch. And again free after lunch till the next round of treatment. The evening session from 3 pm to 8pm was extremely busy. We had free time after that until lights out.

I spent the morning free time reading a couple of books(Rationality: From AI to Zombies and Code: The Hidden language of Hardware and Software), listening to music or sleeping. The evening free time was spent walking around the campus, gazing at the stars and chatting with my mom.

Rooms

Four types of rooms are available.

• Cottages: The most expensive one, about 5000 Rs per night. The treatments happen inside your cottage. These have to booked months in advance
• Deluxe Rooms: These are twin sharing ac rooms for 3000 Rs per night.
• Special Rooms: These are twin sharing non ac rooms for 1500 Rs per night.
• General Ward: Here you get a bed in a large hall filled with beds. You are charged about 300 Rs per night.

All the rates mentioned are for the room itself (except the ward), so for the twin sharing room, we end up paying half the rate for each person. We stayed in a special room. The weather was extremely hot, but our fan was pretty good. So we managed quite well without an AC.

Food

You could be given three kinds of diet based on your requirements.

Course	Boiled Diet	Raw Diet	Liquid Diet
Breakfast	Liquid Ragi	Upma	Juice
Lunch	Chapati/Rice, Sambar/Raita, Chuttney, Watermelon/Papaya, Soup/Buttermilk	Fruit Salad/Kosambri, Sprouts and Groundnuts, Watermelon/Papaya, Soup/Buttermilk	Juice
Juice	Juice	Juice	Juice
Dinner	Chapati/Rice, Sambar/Raita, Chuttney, Watermelon/Papaya, Soup/Buttermilk	Fruit Salad/Kosambri, Sprouts and Groundnuts, Watermelon/Papaya, Soup/Buttermilk	More Juice

All food here is without salt, sugar, spice and oil. You get real taste of vegetables here unadulterated by spices and city lifestyle. All the food is locally grown and it is all very fresh.

Treatments

Several kinds of treatments are offered based on requirements. The treatments for men and women were conducted separately. Male treatments were conducted by men and Women operated on ladies. They happened in separate building, so no men and women would interact during the treatments.

• Water Treatments: Water treatments involve getting drenched. So you generally do them without your clothes except your underwear. At the end of the treatments, you are a lot more refreshed.
  • Cold Circular Jet: You are in a chamber that shoot then streams of water at you from all directions. You have to spin at a slow speed to enjoy it. Think of it like a shower, but in coming at you in all directions horizontally instead of vertically.
  • Jacuzzi Water Bath: You are placed in a special bath tub filled with luke warm water. Water then strikes you from under like it does at the inlets of a swimming pool. This practice can be tiring for some, so the guy incharge keeps checking whether you are fine or not.
  • Alternating Water Baths: You sit in a hot water tub and then a cold water tub. Nothing special here. :/
  • Douche Water Massage: Here you are exposed to a jet of water at high speed from what looks to be a fire extinguisher. This hits all over your body, part by part from about eight feet away. They might do it twice with hot and cold water as well.
• Packs and Baths: These treatments involve applying some paste or pack all over the body and waiting for your body heat to dry the mixture. The water from the mix has to dry and the rest of the mixture should stick to your body. Hence it is important to sit in the shade while you have the paste on you and wait patiently.
  

  Pack Type	Duration	Benefits
  Mud Bath	45 mins	Treat Skin Conditions
  Mustard Bath	20 mins	Pain Therapy
  Turmeric Bath	30 mins	Skin Glow

• Massages: There were several types of massages. These were generally done by two people simultaneously. They are similar to a massage you get at any spa. They press from head to toes while going over your front and back. I had an oil massage, salt massage and powder massage. These are followed by a head massage. Finally you are treated in a steam bath. This is generally at a high temperature but for a short duration of time. Combination of massage and steam bath can be very exhausting.
• Detox Kriyas: These are a collection of procedures to clean various parts of your gut. If you practice all of them, then your gut will be fully clean.
  • Jal Neti: In this procedure, water is poured in from one nostril and it comes out through the other.
  • Sutra neti: A thin string is inserted through one nostril and pulled out from your mouth. It is used to clean out the excess mucus in the tract.
  • Kunjal kriya: Here we drink about two litres of salt water and puke out the contents of our digestive system. Note that this is done on an empty stomach.
  • Enima: This is a procedure where a tube inserted into our buttocks and water is pumped until we want to pass motion. It is used to clean the large intestine. It is also beneficial to those struggling with constipation.
  • Colonosopy: This is an advanced enima procedure. Water is pumped using a bigger tube until it fills up your stomach. The whole thing is drained out afterwards.
• Physiotherapy: This is general physiotherapy, used to treat pain. It is generally conducted daily for twenty minutes. A machine goes over various parts of the body relaxing it and easing the pain. I didn't undergo this myself, so I don't know much about it.
• Acupuncture: Here needles have to purchased from the office. The needles are then inserted at pressure points to relieve pain. Most people who come from chronic pain, generally undergo acupuncture. There are also twenty minute sessions.

Yoga Sessions

Yoga happened for several sessions daily, as stated above.

• Pranayama: This is breathing and patience. It really helps if the instructor is good here, otherwise your mind will waver.
• Basic Asanas: This is for the general crowd to get some stretching.
• Dynamic Yoga: This is a more advanced course. It requires some flexibility and practice. You will be extremely tired after an hour of surya namaskaras and intense exercises.
• Belly Yoga: This was targeted at those who wanted to lose some weight. It required some practice to do well like leg rising.
• Bhajans and Lessons: These were a relaxation session where everyone sang bhajans and we listened to some lectures by Dr Shivaraj Patil. These lectures talked about balance, importance of diet and the significance of the seven chakras in the human body etc.
• Back Yoga: This was a relaxed session to stretch out the back muscles. There were stretching asanas in the sleeping position.
• Endocrine Yoga: This was a relaxed session aimed at fixing thyroid problems etc. These were stretching asanas in sitting position.
• Trathaka: This was conducted daily at 7:30 pm. In trathata, we try to stare at a candle flame without blinking. It has several uses like eye cleansing, improving concentration and willpower.

People

This discussion would be incomplete without talking about the kinds of people you meet. They come from various backgrounds and for varied causes. Most people however do come for weight loss, chronic pain, cure sleep deprivation and just for detox and vacation.

Starting from my doctor Dr Shiviraj Patil who was is the head of the branch. Maybe in has early fifties, he's fit and knowledgable. He has the ability to gain the respect of anyone who he speaks to. He speaks to everyone from the sweeper to MLAs with the same ease. His ability to keep everyone on their toes and stay motivated is what keeps the place running. He's a great marketer as well.

While doing my Sauna steam massage, I met the Ex-Wrestler. He's gave up wresting a while back. He was exactly 74Kg back then to ensure he could compete in the under 75 category. But since he stopped, he been eating and drinking non stop and now he's 103 Kg. It was fun to see him in yoga because you don't expect a fat guy to stretch so well. He was there for 21 day weight loss treatment. He looks like he's 34 but he's hardly 26 years old.

While having lunch I met the Tumkur guy. He travels everyday back and fourth between Bangalore and Tumkur for work. He was relatively fit, but was there for a detox session and to escape pollution for a while. The married 36 year old hardly looks like he's 30. One of his company projects is to manufacture inverters and several critical electrical components for the Olympics.

While sitting for my turmeric bath I struck a conversation with a Business Owner from Chitradurga. He sells land and lpg for a living. He talking about his business is completing 100 years in 2024 and the difficulties they've been facing off late. They might be winding up their business soon. He was personally there to lose some weight and take a break from alcohol.

While waiting for my mud bath to dry I met the Software guy who can't code. He's been getting some great hikes off late because of expertise in some niche language. He configures systems for clients and gets paid very well for it. He's about 40 kilos overweight.

While having dinner one day, I met the Injured Marketeer. The Bangalorean is a fit person, but he has been through an accident recently and was in constant pain. He really need acupuncture and physiotherapy for his injured knees. Apparently this was his second visit to the campus. He was prepared to be there for thirty days with the hope of returning fit and ready to take on the pain.

While waiting at the doctor's office I struck up a conversation with the Hot NITK Senior. She is fit and very good looking. She was there to take a break before starting her next endeavour. She was pretty much the only person I met there who I could have a normal conversation with.

Finally the Pareeka staff, they very devoted people. They work very hard and take their jobs very seriously. They don't even accept bribes tips. Right from cleaning the toilets to suggesting treatments the dedication is unparalleled. I hope be part of such a workforce with so much belief in a better cause one day.

Overall Experience

On 6th Morning once I had been checked in, I was to start my first treatment. I innocently followed one of the staff members to the procedure room. He asked me strip my hind side while lying down! All the weirdest thoughts were running though my head and I was wondering what the hell I'd signed up for. He then proceeded to inject my enima tube into my buttocks and started passing water into the tube. At this point I was losing my shit (quite literally). When the feeling of motion came, he stopped and asked me to poop it out in the adjacent toilet. I cleaned the enima tube and left the room. I knew I was in for a wild ride!

I had a great time at Pareeka. It was a but lonely and boring at times, but that's necessary too in this technology heavy world. Eating food without salt, sugar, spice and oil is very new to me. The food and atmosphere can drive people mad. Unless you are strong willed and ready for a challenge, this is not for you. It requires you to actively put down your phone for a large majority of the day.

I would personally recommend it anyone who wants a resonable vacation away from the city. It's also great if you want to try something new. But you are bound to break somewhere along the way. The key is to enjoy that and see how you can best enjoy the situation instead of dreading it. I've seen people go multiple times because of how different the experience is.

According to my neighbour, my skin has a nice glow. I lost around two kilos and I'm a lot more flexible and feel amazing as a result of the nature retreat. Sakiv's liquid diet proved useful to him as he lost about 4 kilos that week.

Exit Drama and Cost

The trip cost me personally around 11,000 INR for eight days. For Sakiv it was about 9,000 INR for seven days. We paid another 3,000 INR for the auto, stay and overnight bus journeys. So it shouldn't cost over 15,000 INR for ten days.

Our train was booked for Saturday evening, but the train got cancelled. At least, that's what IRCTC told us. In light of the Corona situation, we booked an overnight bus for Friday night itself. Our exit got advanced by one day. We completed all the exit procedures including one morning treatment by 12 o'clock. We checked out 12pm on Friday the 13th. We then asked the reception to get us an auto to Udupi city. We stayed at an Oyo near the Udupi temple. We had to take a room because Sakiv had his laptop.

Udupi Visit

In the afternoon, we decided to visit the Udupi temple for lunch. We completed our darshan (seeing the god) first and then proceeded for lunch. The temple was so empty, we got to see the god twice. Last I had been here was during my college days when we waited in line for about two hours. It was a pleasant surprise to see the temple so empty.

For lunch, we were served regular temple food in the general section. Since our spice tolerance had significantly reduced, we found even the unspiciest temple sambar to be spicy. Lunch was great after 8 days of bland food!

We got back to the room and Tumkur guy from earlier joint us (Sakiv had invited him). He gave us good company for a few hours. I really wanted to eat at ideal cafe, but the place was so desserted, so we went to a local darshini instead. We talked for a while after early dinner and Tumkur guy left after promising to keep in touch (yeah right!).

We caught our bus from the service bus stand at 9:15 the night and saw my college from the windows, one last time. I miss my college, but that's a thing of the past now, just like my trip. That successfully concluded our trip.